Forts and Fights program set for May 21 in Hallowell

Linda Novak, director of Old Fort Western in Augusta, will give a talk about Forts and Fights at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, at the Hallowell City Hall auditorium, 1 Winthrop St., Hallowell, according to a news release from Row House, Hallowell’s historical society.

Hallowell once included many of the communities in the surrounding area until growing pains resulted in divisions. Those who attend can learn about the construction of the four forts that enabled the development of the settlement that became Hallowell, according to the release.

Linda Novak Photo by Bob McIntire

This talk is part of a series of programs highlighting the founding, growth and development of the riverside city in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of Row House. The series began with a tour of the geologic foundations from the dawn of time. Next was a snapshot of 12,000 years of human habitation in the Kennebec watershed.

According to the release, Novak is a graduate of the University of Maine, where she received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. She has worked on several archaeological sites in Maine including Damariscove Island, a 1622 Plymouth fishing settlement in Boothbay Harbor, and Fort Pentagoet, the French fort in Castine. She earned a master’s degree in anthropology from the College of William & Mary in 1994, specializing in historic archaeology. While in Virginia, she worked at the Colonial National Historical Park, the James River Institute for Archaeology, and finally at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as assistant curator of archaeology. She has been director of Old Fort Western since 2010.

Row House was founded in 1969 by a group of Hallowell citizens when they purchased and saved several important and deteriorating historic buildings in the city. Using their own funds, they purchased the row house building on Second Street and took the name of the building for the organization.

Founding members of Row House went on to conduct an inventory of historic buildings throughout the city. This led to the city applying for and receiving approval in 1971 for Hallowell’s National Historic District. The organization, in partnership with the city, renovated the 1899 City Hall. The effort began in 1995 and was completed nine years later.

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